How to Make Money on Coinbase?
If you search how to make money on Coinbase, these are the most common answers you’ll get – trading, investing and staking. But there are a couple of other ways to earn from Coinbase that don’t involve these strategies.
In this article, you’ll find out:
- How you can earn from Coinbase by simply learning about different cryptocurrencies
- How you can earn by referring people to Coinbase
- 3 traditional methods to make money on Coinbase
What you Need to Make Money on Coinbase
Founded in 2012, Coinbase is one of the earliest crypto exchanges and is now the largest in the US by trading volume.
It’s a great platform for beginners with an easy user interface and offers many cryptocurrencies to trade from.
Before you even ask how to make money on Coinbase, you should have a Coinbase account.
If you don’t have one, you can easily create one in a matter of minutes. Creating an account on Coinbase is easy and totally free. But keep in mind that you’ll need to complete KYC and verify your identity to use Coinbase.
Also, there’s a signup bonus of $10 worth of Bitcoin. So, you’ll earn $10 right away by just signing up on the platform.
Coinbase Earn
Coinbase Earn is a program that allows users to make money on Coinbase by learning about different cryptocurrencies.
How does it work?
There are different modules for different cryptocurrencies. Each module consists of an informational video, followed by a quiz to test your understanding of the concept.
All you have to do is watch the videos and take the quiz, and you’ll get rewarded with the particular cryptocurrency you’re learning about.
So, for example, if you wanna learn about the Compound Governance Token (COMP), you can find its module, watch the videos, take the quiz, and receive free COMP tokens in your wallet.
Sounds too good to be true? Because it is.
How Much Can you Actually Make from Coinbase Earn?
The truth is that most articles and videos on Coinbase Earn will never reveal how much you can actually earn. They just talk about what it is and how it works just for the clicks.
To answer the question, you can’t make much with Coinbase Earn. In the early days of Coinbase Earn, you could have earned hundreds of dollars with it, but now, the most you can make is around $20-30.
So, if you’re looking for ways on how to make money on Coinbase, this might not be the best use of your time. But it’s great if you’re a complete newbie who wants to learn about these subjects anyway.
Coinbase Referrals
You get free $10 if someone creates an account with your invite link. Furthermore, if someone signs up with your invite link and buys $100 worth of Bitcoin, you both get free Bitcoins.
Now, there are several different ways to make money on Coinbase with this strategy –
1. Refer Friends and Family – Send invite links to people in your social circle and family members who wanna start investing in crypto anyway. But you probably can’t make huge sums of money by referring friends and family.
2. Refer People in Groups and Communities – There are many beginners and newbies that lurk around in crypto and investment-related groups and communities.
You can easily convince them to sign up using your invite link, as they will get free Bitcoins too. It’s a win-win for both of you.
However, make sure you don’t spam. Some of these groups and communities have strict guidelines against referrals and self-promotion.
3. Refer your Audience – If you’re a content creator and already have a decent following, you can tell your audience to sign up with your invite link. It’s the easiest and most scalable method to use this strategy to make money on Coinbase
How Most People Make Money on Coinbase
The following are the three most popular methods that most people use to make money on Coinbase –
Trading
Trading crypto works similarly to trading stocks or securities. You need to have knowledge and experience in technical and fundamental analysis and different trading strategies.
Keep in mind that trading is not something you can do as a hobby or part-time job to earn some extra cash on the side. It’s a high-stress, time-consuming practice that requires a full-time commitment.
Swing trading is probably the only trading strategy you can do on and off and still earn profits.
Although Coinbase is pretty easy-to-use and suitable for beginner traders, we wouldn’t recommend it for trading crypto due to its high transaction fees and poor customer support.
HODLing
HODLing is probably the best method on how to make money on Coinbase.
HODLing, if you don’t know, means Hold On to Dear Life. Basically, it’s a long-term investment strategy that involves holding your crypto assets for years.
Imagine someone bought 10 Bitcoins in 2015 for $3000.
In 2022, those 10 Bitcoins would be worth around $383940 as of writing this article.
This is not a new or unique strategy. People have been doing this for years with different assets.
Staking
Most cryptocurrency protocols validate transactions using either Proof-of-Work (PoS) or Proof-of-Stake (PoS) mechanisms.
You can stake your crypto in these PoS protocols and become a validator for the network, and in return for your contributions, receive rewards in crypto.
This is the simplified version of how staking works. To learn more about it, read our guide on DeFi Staking.
Coinbase allows staking. So, if you wanna know how to make money on Coinbase, staking is one of the best ways to do that. Plus, it’s a passive income source.
Don’t Forget about Taxes
If you’re looking for ways on how to make money on Coinbase, you should know that Coinbase, along with most big crypto exchanges, all report to the IRS. So, you can’t avoid taxes.
And in case you didn’t know, yes, cryptocurrency is taxable.
Here’s a guide to crypto taxes that will tell you everything you need to know about it.